1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inside hat bands which are sometimes also referred to as sweatbands, and more particularly to a hat band that provides comfort, ventilation, cooling and sweat-stain-blocking functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Headwear is often worn in warm conditions in order to protect the head from sunlight and/or physical injury (for example, cycle, sport, emergency personnel, construction and military helmets), or simply for esthetic reasons. The head is also one of the human body's primary heat radiators, or heat loss sites. Thus, placing headwear over the head in a warm environment quickly leads to overheating and profuse sweating. In conventional headwear, sweat is absorbed by the sweatband-portion of the headwear and often migrates by capillary action from the sweatband into the body of the headwear itself, producing unsightly exterior sweat stains that are difficult or impossible to remove. Many of these sweat-stained hats and caps are either discarded or linger unworn in closets. The skin-contact portion of the headband also creates an uncomfortable hot-spot on the users head.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, a sweatband for headwear is a band lining the inside edge of a hat or cap to protect it against the sweat from the wearer's head and provide a comfortable fit for the wearer.
There are disclosed in the prior art various means for providing a ventilating space to separate the skin-contact surface of the sweatband from the main body of the headwear by using spacing elements, and thereby provide a ventilating and cooling effect to the wearer. None of these ventilating sweatband designs also simultaneously block sweat-stains. The sweatband designs proposed in the prior art have been either costly or inconvenient to make, impractical to use, uncomfortable, non-esthetic, or difficult to incorporate into existing headwear designs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,788 discloses a ventilating spacing element formed of molded plastic. A sweatband design containing a plastic insert such as this would likely be uncomfortable to wear and difficult to incorporate into existing headwear because of the difficulty of conforming semi-rigid plastic to the complex shapes of headwear. U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,516 describes spacing elements composed of absorbent sponge balls. Multi-element designs of this sort are costly and inconvenient to manufacture. Using sponge, or other hydrophilic materials, as spacing elements would not provide a sweat-stain-blocking function. Rather, the sponge or other hydrophilic material would absorb and transmit the moisture. U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,157 describes spacing elements composed of tubes of flexible material. Designs such as this, with only a small number of spacing elements, would be uncomfortable to wear because of pressure-points at the locations of the spacing-element attachment and would not provide consistent spacing of the sweatband from the headwear because of the limited number of proposed spacing elements. U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,901 describes spacing elements formed of a “plurality of flexible fingers” composed of injection-molded thermoplastic material. Designs such as this, where stiff, plastic, spacing-elements come in direct contact with the user's head create uncomfortable pressure points and leave indentations in the skin surface if worn for any significant period of time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,689 describes a spacing element composed of a sinusoidal foam band. This type of design, where foam spacing elements come in direct skin contact, create pressure points and uncomfortable hot-spots at the points of skin contact.
Fabric-type spacing elements have also been proposed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,630,230 and 5,887,276 describe spacing elements consisting of hydrophilic, non woven, water-absorbent pads. These pads are designed to be hydrated before use by plunging the headwear into a bath of water. Designs that need to be hydrated before use are not a practical solution for many headwear applications. Designs with hydrophilic pads would absorb and transmit sweat and therefore would not provide a sweat-blocking function.
There are relatively few disclosures in the prior art of designs that provide sweat-stain-blocking functions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,280 describes a laminated sweatband structure composed of both sweat absorbing and sweat blocking non-woven fabric layers. The non-absorbent, sweat-blocking layer is a non-woven fabric strip coated with a hydrophobic synthetic resin. The non-absorbent layer is intended to keep sweat from reaching and wetting the crown of the hat or cap. This sweatband design is described as able to effect blocking of wetting, but does not purport to simultaneously provide ventilation or cooling.
Additional relevant prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,052, which discloses a knitted stretch spacer material and method of making it; U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,070 which discloses a three-dimensional fabric for a seat; U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,758 which discloses a three-dimensional knit spacer fabric for footwear and backpacks; U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,391 which discloses a three-dimensional knit spacer fabric for bed pads; U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,013 which discloses a shoe having an air-cooled breathable shoe liner; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,401 which discloses a knitted textile structure with double skin and adjustable binding threads. Finally, there is a commercially available device described in UK Patent 2,341,784; U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,214 and European Patent Application 99 307 488.9. This device is intended to be added to caps to improve their ventilating and sweat blocking functions.